San Jose Sharks Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Wilson announced today that the team has signed center Patrick Marleau to a two-year contract extension. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Patrick is among the game’s top forwards and his stats speak for themselves,” said Wilson. “Winning is his ultimate goal and getting this extension done prior to the start of the season allows us to focus solely on hockey. Along with several of his teammates recently, Patty made a commitment that he wants to be here and help this team attain all of its goals. We feel as an organization that it is our responsibility to make this a place that players want to play and we are proud of our players when they step up to make this happen.”

The Oilers finished with just 71 points last season, so I figure they’ll be better than that in the coming season. But, to get back to the playoffs, all of Lowe’s many moves will have to pay off immediately. I think that’s too much to ask. It will probably be a better season, but it looks like another early summer in Edmonton.

“In more detail about everything you now will be able to read on my bloge. To me it will very pleasantly see you here - girls, fellows and all fans of Russian sport. We will associate here as far as possible. I will answer your questions, and you will help me to learn news from Russia; -) I hope that this blog will leave on all a good impression.”

If you’ve seen the billboard near American Airlines Center, you might think the Stars should be sent to the penalty box for slashing another sport when it’s down.
Or you could soak in the message – “The only thing our refs shave is the ice” – and do what Mavericks owner Mark Cuban did.
Laugh.
“I think it’s hysterical,” Cuban said. “Good for them. It’s a fun ad.”

A Moscow court has ruled that British Airways must pay Russian ice hockey star Pavel Bure 67,000 rubles ($US 2600) in damages.
In October the NHL player Pavel Bure was ordered off a flight from Moscow to Los Angeles via London.
Mistaking him for a football hooligan, the pilot refused to take off until Bure - known as the Russian Rocket - left the plane.

added 9:02am, from the RIA,

Bure filed a lawsuit with the Tverskoi Court in Moscow on June 20 demanding that British Airways pay him 20 million rubles ($771,000) in compensation just for moral damages.
Dmitry Ragulin, a lawyer for Bure, said the defense and his client completely disagreed with Friday’s court decision and will appeal to the Moscow City Court.
“The sum awarded for moral damage is ridiculous and we intend to seek an increase,” the lawyer said.

There is so much that is interesting about what Tim Taylor is about to go through, it is difficult to know where to start; so let’s get the basic information out of the way first. The Lightning captain will have surgery on his degenerative right hip Thursday at Tampa’s University Community Hospital. Orthopedic surgeon Steve Raterman will perform the operation that will shave down Taylor’s right femur and insert it into a metal hip socket to ease movement.
If all goes well, and after three weeks when he will need help walking, Taylor could, perhaps, be back in the lineup by February….
Taylor hoped to rehab the injury back into shape during the summer. But the pain became so bad he said he had to stop running and could not sleep without taking an anti-inflammatory drug. He said NHL Productions will record his surgery and rehab.

While several players said yesterday they plan to push the union to release Block’s report to all its members, they really needn’t bother. After all, when the controversy over Saskin’s hiring first surfaced, most players’ view on the debacle was, “let’s just focus on what’s happening on the ice.”
Instead of parsing down Block’s carefully crafted report, a better exercise for players would be pressing for the release of a separate report prepared three months ago by another Toronto lawyer, Chris Paliare. It’s shameful that report, which details the NHLPA’s email surveillance scheme, remains stamped “PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL.”

The series has shifted to Omsk, Russia, but one hometown boy won’t be in the lineup. Unfortunately. Cherepanov is out for the series after Brandon Sutter caught him in the trolley tracks early in Game 2.
There are times, as in the NHL when a “mediocre” team dumps payroll and aging stars and suddenly adopts a new identity and begins winning games, that losing a superstar isn’t a bad thing. Now, obviously, I’m not suggesting the Russians are better without Cherepanov. But the time might just step up for him, playing a little less pretty and a little more gritty.

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